A Beautiful Sunset

Over the past couple weeks, we have been blessed with beautiful sunsets. This is a view from our farm.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea! 

-Katharine Lee Bates

One Snowy Morning ...

This weekend, a major winter storm hit our area. We received almost 6-inches of snow and the temperatures dropped below zero. When we came out to feed the sheep in the morning, we found many of them covered in fresh snow! Although we have provided shelter for the sheep to sleep in, most of them chose to sleep outside in the snow. Their thick wool coats shielded them from the cold, wind, and snow.  They presented comical appearances for us!

Dora

 Blossom

 Bluebell smiles for the photographer

 Clover

 Hannah, Dove, Filly, and Evelyn spent some of the night under shelter

 DonnaLisa's bangs are iced up

 Dinah

 Caramel

 Farah

Doris seems to be asking a question.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the folks at Grace Valley Farms!

The sheep at the farm send their greetings! 

Elsie

Faraday

Fawn

 Elizabeth

May you be blessed as you rejoice in the birth of Jesus, our Savior! 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6

Winter Wonderland!

This past weekend we had another snowstorm blow through our area. 

 The temperatures dipped to -10 degrees one night! The sheep were not cold as they stayed nice and warm in their long wool coats!

When the temperatures drop and the snow covers our pastures, we supplement the energy needs of our sheep by feeding extra hay. Since it was below freezing for a few days, we added alfalfa hay to their diets. Alfalfa is a good source of protein and it is also loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Fiber Monday Sale!

Grace Valley Farms is hosting a Fiber Monday sale!  Today only, all Romney roving is on sale at 25% off!  This special pricing will only be effective on orders placed Monday, November 26^th. See special pricing below:

Charcoal Romney Roving - very low VM content.  Regular Price = $2.00 per ounce.   Fiber Monday SALE price =  $1.50 per ounce   

 The price above does not include shipping (shipping is in addition to the sale price).  Availability is on first-come basis.

Hello From the Big Boys!

Breeding season is over at Grace Valley Farms. The big boys, Jack and Edison have done their duties and now they get to relax until next fall! 

 Edison had 11 ewes to breed this year.

Jack had 35 ewes in his group and Edgar (not pictured) had 18 girls.

We are anticipating a large number of new lambs next year! The first ewe is due to deliver on February 9, 2013.

BueLingo Cattle

 Our little herd of BueLingo cattle is growing! This fall we added 6 more members (4 cows and 2 steers). 

 

 Olive, one of our heifers.

Three of our heifers are expecting calves. We are looking forward to the arrival of the little ones next spring!

Autumn in Montana

 We have had a beautiful fall here in central Montana! The tree leaves have been yellow for a couple of weeks and the temperatures are just perfect! The sheep have been enjoying the nice weather too! Here are a few pictures of our sheep relaxing on a beautiful autumn evening.

 Flora

Emily and Jack

Carolyn

 Farley

 Charity and Jack

 Murphy, the guard llama.

 Elizabeth, Daisy, Frito, and Clarabelle.

Carolyn and Dora

Elizabeth and Clarabelle

Eliza Jane and Clover

Almost every night we have been enjoying beautiful sunsets!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. - Eccl. 3:1

It's Snowing Outside!

The first snow of the fall/winter is on the ground. Grace Valley Farms has had two snowstorms already this week!


The sheep didn't seem to mind the snow. They kept right on eating their green grass! 

 Winter is on the way!

Romney Roving For Sale!

Just in time for Autumn and Christmas projects ...

 Dark Charcoal Romney Roving - $7.50 per 4 ounce ball.

For Sale on Etsy.

Caught!

Emmett was caught with his nose in the goods! As you can tell, he LOVES watermelon!

Iowa State Fair Wool Awards - 2012

Over the last few years, our customers have commented on the beauty and quality of the fleeces produced by the Grace Valley Farms flock.  Their comments spurred us to enter some of the fleeces in the 2011 Montana Fair.  We were pleased to have all of the entries win 1st or 2nd in their classes and every class entered resulted in a 1st place ribbon.  The 2012 Montana Fair yielded similar results but with the added bonus of Darcy's black fleece awarded Reserve Grand Champion of the entire Fair! 

 

Others urged us to enter fleeces in a larger and more signficant wool event, the Iowa State Fair. So, we entered two fleeces in the 2012 Fair ... and, we were excited by the results ... Daisy's fleece won 1st place in her class and went on to take Overall Reserve Grand Champion!  Easton's black fleece took 2nd place in his class. 

 

Daisy's fleece won Overall Reserve Grand Champion.

Easton's Fleece won second place in his class!
 

These awards stir up our heart of gratefulness for those who have provided such help in producing quality sheep and wool:

• Dee and Rick - provided quality breeding stock (including Edison!), encouragement, and many hours of useful information. How we have enjoyed and benefited from those times sitting around their kitchen table soaking up the wealth of information!
• Lisa and Pat - provided many hours of hands-on help during shearing, grading and ranking our fleeces for us, advice over the phone, spinning and knitting lessons, and encouragement.
• Our customers - for not only buying our fleeces but offering feedback on how we could improve our products and buying experience. The photos of yarn and finished products have been motivating for us.
• Robert, Diana, and family - for faithfully praying for us, providing many hours of help on Shearing Day, and farm-sitting when we were out of town! They managed our operation as well as we could have!
• Our neighbors - for many hours of advice and help in raising sheep and farming in Montana.
• Our friends - for helping us when we needed the extra hands.
• Uncle Joe and Dee - photos of the fleeces.
• Aunt Martha - thank you for picking up our fleeces for us.

Bottom Line: these awards are your awards, too!

 

To God Be The Glory !